Chamaecyparis pisifera

Chamaecyparis pisifera (Sawara cypress or Sawara Template:Langx) is a species of cypress in the genus Chamaecyparis, native to central and southern Japan, on the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū.<ref name=farjon>Farjon, A. (2005). Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021" />

Description

It is a slow-growing coniferous tree growing to 35–50 m tall with a trunk up to 2 m in diameter. The bark is red-brown, vertically fissured and with a stringy texture. The foliage is arranged in flat sprays; adult leaves are scale-like, 1.5–2 mm long, with pointed tips (unlike the blunt tips of the leaves of the related Chamaecyparis obtusa (hinoki cypress), green above, green below with a white stomatal band at the base of each scale-leaf; they are arranged in opposite decussate pairs on the shoots. The juvenile leaves, found on young seedlings, are needle-like, 4–8 mm long, soft and glaucous bluish-green. The cones are globose, 4–8 mm diameter, with 6–10 scales arranged in opposite pairs, maturing in autumn about 7–8 months after pollination.<ref name=farjon/>

Related species

A related cypress found on Taiwan, Chamaecyparis formosensis (Formosan cypress), differs in longer ovoid cones 6–10 mm long with 10–16 scales.<ref name=farjon/> The extinct Eocene species Chamaecyparis eureka, known from fossils found on Axel Heiberg Island in Canada, is noted to be very similar to C. pisifera.<ref name="Kotyk2003">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Name

The Latin specific epithet pisifera, "pea-bearing", refers to the small round green cones.<ref name=RHSLG>Template:Cite book</ref>

Uses

Timber

It is grown for its timber in Japan, where it is used as a material for building palaces, temples, shrines and baths, and making coffins, though less valued than the timber of C. obtusa. The wood is lemon-scented and light-coloured with a rich, straight grain, and is rot resistant.<ref name=dj>Dallimore, W., & Jackson, A. B. (1966). A Handbook of Coniferae and Ginkgoaceae 4th ed. Arnold.</ref>

Ornamental

It is also a popular ornamental tree in parks and gardens, both in Japan and elsewhere in temperate climates including western and central Europe and parts of North America. A large number of cultivars have been selected for garden planting, including dwarf forms, forms with yellow or blue-green leaves, and forms retaining the juvenile needle-like foliage; particularly popular juvenile foliage cultivars include 'Plumosa', 'Squarrosa' and 'Boulevard'.<ref name=dj/>

In cultivation in the UK the following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit<ref name = RHSPF>Template:Cite web</ref> (confirmed 2017):<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• 'Boulevard':<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Convert, blue-green foliage
• 'Filifera Aurea':<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> rounded, needle-like golden foliage, to Template:Convert
• 'Plumosa Compressa':<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> dwarf to Template:Convert, soft mossy foliage on young plants
• 'Sungold':<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> rounded shrub to Template:Convert tall and wide, with needle-like lime green foliage

• Grove of 80-year-old trees
  Grove of 80-year-old trees
• Foliage and cones
  Foliage and cones
• Central trunk of a tree
  Central trunk of a tree
• Bark
  Bark
• Path in the Togakushi Shrine lined with C. pisifera
  Path in the Togakushi Shrine lined with C. pisifera

• Bonsai example
  Bonsai example
• Foliage of the juvenile cultivar 'Boulevard', with soft feathery needle-like leaves
  Foliage of the juvenile cultivar 'Boulevard', with soft feathery needle-like leaves
• Cultivar 'Golden Charm'
  Cultivar 'Golden Charm'
• Cultivar 'Filifera aurea'
  Cultivar 'Filifera aurea'
• Leaves of the Filifera aurea
  Leaves of the Filifera aurea
• Cultivar 'Sungold'
  Cultivar 'Sungold'

External links

• Conifers Around the World: Chamaecyparis pisifera - sawara cypress.